Name: Aaron Alexander Conte Falcon
Type: MSc dissertation
Publication date: 18/04/2018
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Edmilson Costa Teixeira | Advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Ana Lucia Brandimarte | External Examiner * |
| Antonio Sérgio Ferreira Mendonça | Internal Examiner * |
| Edmilson Costa Teixeira | Advisor * |
Summary: Small-scale rural watersheds are regions WHERE community members tend to depend
directly on the availability of water, which tends to be a restrictive aspect for most of the
activities taking place there. The relationship described above makes it essential to have
periodic monitoring to verify the compatibility between water quality and uses. However,
due to limitations of financial, human and infrastructure resources, the creation of this
kind of programs hardly becomes a reality. The community-based monitoring
methodologies represent a promising way to solve the problem of the lack of information
on water quality, and it becomes of particular relevance in developing countries, WHERE it
can speed-up formal decision-making processes, leading to a quicker response to
conflicts and the prevention of threats that affect natural resources. However, due to the
complex nature of the community-based approach, there are still methodological gaps
related to the availability of procedures that allow for the establishment of monitoring
programs that are better integrated into the formal water resources management
system. Therefore, this research aims to contribute to this aspect, by providing a
methodological framework to help in the construction of programs with this profile. The
development of this research resulted in the proposition of a methodological framework
for the implementation of the community-based water quality monitoring as a tool to
support the dynamics of co / self-management of water resources in rural small and
micro watersheds of the state of Espírito Santo, Brasil. The framework proposed is
integrated by five stages, and is strongly based on the use of social participation
techniques as a mechanism of methodological improvement. The developed
methodology was validated by experts from the State Agency for Water Resources -
AGERH, formal entity of the Brazilian National Water Resources Management System
who is directly related to the monitoring of water in this state. Finally, some
recommendations are made for the development of future investigations aimed at
improving the methodological framework proposed in this study.
